Amy Howard is Trying to Kill Me

The aforementioned Amy, a friend from church - a good Christian girl, mind you... emailed me to ask me if I would be interested in joining her for the local YMCA's Jump Start Training sessions for a mini-marathon that they will be sponsoring later this year. Basically, the sessions are Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:00 pm and Saturday morning at 7am.

Well, first off, I didn't get said email until Wednesday this week, so I missed the Tuesday session - not that I'd have gone anyway, as I weigh in on Tuesdays. Then on Thursday, well, it was sprinkling when I left work and so I managed to convince myself that they wouldn't have it. :)
Friday night, after I got off work, I went by the Y to sign the waiver and get my info. Unfortunately, I was informed that they don't cancel due to weather unless there's lightning. sigh

This morning, my alarm went off at 6am, since I knew that I'd need more than a couple of minutes to become human before setting off. My cats laid there on the end of the bed looking at me through heavy eyelids as if to ask me if I were crazy. (The answer of course would have been "yes.")

I got to the Y about 10 minutes 'til 7 and there was probably 75 people there - I'm guessing that Evansville is having an episode of mass hysteria, but it wasn't mentioned on the news. Hmm. Amy arrived and told me that she planned on being in the run/walk group, as opposed to the running group and the walking group. For obvious reasons, I was in the walking group.

I started out walking near the front of the group, and I kept up with them for about 4-5 blocks, but then slowly people started passing me. By the time I finished the walk for the day, 1.25 miles, I think I was at the very end, or darned close.

I went home to get some stuff before going out to Wadesville to visit the 'Rents, and I swear I could barely get out of the car. And as I was driving, every time I came near a red light or some other reason to slow down, I almost cried because it involved moving my foot from the gas to the brake!

Now, at 7:30 pm, after a nap and a good meal at mom's, my legs and footies are no longer threatening mutiny, but I think I heard some ominous rumblings from them when I only contemplated taking a walk tomorrow afternoon.

Anyway, after my experience this am, I'm wondering what it was exactly I did to make Amy decide to kill me by suggesting this whole thing. I mean, I'm a sweetheart! I'm funny, intelligent, and easy to get along with. WHY??

Defying Gravity

I am a member of the online survey group e-rewards. The most recent survey I took was to watch a one-hour tv show entitled Defying Gravity.

Basically, the plot is as follows: It takes place in 2052, and we have 9 astronauts beginning on a 6 year space voyage to the other planets in the solar system. Within the first, say, 48 hours, the mission commander and one other guy come down with convenient heart problems so their alternates had to be zoomed up on a shuttle to switch out with them. The two alternates are the only two surviving members of a mission to Mars from ten years earlier, where they had to leave their other two members there to die, and of course there's some underlying mystery about the hows and whys of that mission. Also, the guy in charge of mission command back on Earth is not a nice fellow and he has MAJOR issues with Donner (played by Ron Livingston of Office Space fame), even planning on firing him as soon as someone else can be "brought up to speed."

Meanwhile, there's another mystery going on about this mission in general. Something that the mission commander knew about and his alternate is told about, but the remaining crew members won't learn about until Day 43, when they get to Venus. (Duh, duh, dun!) And there's the obligatory sexual tension amongst several of the crew members - 6 years is a long time, after all.

All in all, I enjoyed the show alot. It was sort of slow starting... after the scene where they left the 2 crew members on Mars, that is. But it grabbed me, especially with the mystery about the mission. I don't know when or if this show'll ever really be on the air, but assuming it isn't opposite something like Lost or 24, I think I'll set my Tivo to watch it. Two thumbs up!

Weighing in

Ok, YEAH! I weighed in this evening and after gaining a pound last week, I lost THREE!! whoo hoo! Now, I just need to keep it up. And I need to put on my walking shoes and ipod and walk!

The nursey chick who comes to our office each Tuesday took my BP this am and it was 106/60!!

Yeah ME!!

My Boss is Back and There's Gonna Be Trouble!

Ok, I'm one of those weirdos who generally likes her boss. So he came back today from a two week vacation with the family to Florida. Before he left, I had asked if I could go with, not necessarily because I was aching to go to Disney World, but, you know, if I'm IN Florida, I'm closer to the beach than I am when I'm in Indiana!

And as I've previously ephiphanied, I was meant to come from sea-faring folk. Sigh.. just the thought of sitting on a beach, feeling the breeze through my hair, and reading a book, taking a nap, then taking a walk... it just sounds SO wonderful.

Great, now I'm depressed because I have zero odds of finding myself on a beach this year. :(

Anyway, Steve (Boss #1) is back, and he brought me a souvenir from Disney! (See the picture below) He said it just shrieked "Rosemary" when he saw it - I dunno, but I'm thinking he may finally be "getting" me!

Email Blogging

Ok, here goes.  I see that through blogspot I can email my blog and have posts just show up on it.  I can see this being useful because it's easier to fire off an email when something interesting happens than to have to take the time to think out a posting.  Not that too much thought goes into it, though.  So this is my first test.  Let's see if it works!

Weighing in on Rose

I'll just come out with it. I gained a pound when I weighed in on Tuesday. I was bummed, I'll admit it. But I realize that sometimes where are small gains, but what is important is that the general direction is toward the loss side. So I'm ok. I didn't come home and eat an entire lasagna, although lasagna does sound good. hmm.. lasagna.. mmmm...

I know that one of the important parts of weight management is exercise, and I had every intention to start walking. That's why I bought the ipod, remember? But the shoes I had were not conducive to comfy walking. So I talked to Becky, who has footie problems, and found out what type of shoes she has (she has New Balance shoes, BTW) and went home to balance my checkbook and see if I had the fundage to pay for me some new shoes. After all, these good walking shoes were going to be more expensive than the $12 shoes that I got from Wal-Mart at least 5 years ago!

I balanced the old checkbook and was pleased to find that, thanks to an extra pay check this month, I had enough to go shopping, but I didn't want to go to the Shoe Carnival without a coupon, and I don't have a printer at home, so I figured I'd print me a coupon at work the next day and go shopping after work! A man, a plan, a canal! Speaking of a plan, I mentioned on my Facebook page that I was going to go to the Shoe Carnival the next day, and a friend told me that they were having a Friends and Family sale this coming weekend and that I could get 30% off my purchase if I waited. So, DUH!, I decided to wait.

This morning, taking the day off for a much deserved and highly anticipated four-day weekend, I woke up, watched some Reba on the Lifetime Network, and then went to Shoe Carnival. The only problem that I encountered was that a) I have long feet and 2) I have wide feet, so it's not easy to find big and wide shoes, but I was able to eek out a lovely pair of New Balance shoes that fit my fabulous flippers and wandered up to check out. Like the spy I always wanted to be, I slyly gave the code words for the sale and I saved maor bucks on my shoes! It was so fun, I don't know, maybe I'll even go back and buy some more before the sale is over!

Anyway, this evening before sunset, I put on my new shoes, put my ipod on shuffle, and headed out for a trot around the neighborhood. I even headed over to UE and walked around campus. I can't believe how it's changed since I graduated from there 18 years ago. I've lived here for going on almost 3 years and this was the first time I've taken advantage of my proximity to the campus. I'll have to do this more often.

Review – Terminator – Salvation

(Disclaimer: If you haven’t seen this movie, there may be information in this review that might be considered a “spoiler” - although I consciously try not to put major spoiler info in my reviews. Proceed with caution.)

I have been awaiting this movie to come out from the very minute I heard that Christian Bale had signed on to play John Connor. For two reasons: 1) I LOVE Christian Bale; and B) I LOVE the Terminator series. Although, as I’m typing this, I’m thinking it’s been a while since I watched the older movies, so I may have to have a Terminator-a-thon this holiday weekend. Hmm… I’ll have to ponder that.

Anyway, the first Terminator was great and I had a thing for Michael Biehn, the guy who come back in time to protect John Connor’s mother and in doing so became John Connor’s father. To see the first movie acted out in 30 seconds by bunnies, click on the link above - it's especially cute where the machine has lost it's flesh, so it's all machine, and it's hopping around with bunny ears! The second movie was good because of course Arnie’s machine was a good guy and the whole interplay between him and the teenage John Connor had some humor in it. That and the machine who melted like Mercury and then reassembled itself was cool! Now, my problems with the third movie are that I don’t remember it very much. I think I've only see it twice … hence the need for the thon this weekend. And the TV series, the Sarah Connor Chronicles has been really good. And this past season’s finale was… oohh!! REALLY good, I'm just crushed that FOX canceled it. :(

So obviously I entered the theater with high hopes. Of course, this was despite my reading a review that called it silly. Now, first the movie is loud. And John Connor doesn't really speak so much as he yells. Although at one point, if you closed your eyes, he sounded like Batman. :)

It starts out in modern day. A prisoner named Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) is being put to death for his crimes and before he gets the lethal injection, Helena Bonham Carter persuades him to sign his body over to science. Then we shift to 2018 and we are in the middle of the war with the machines and John Connor and crew are blowing stuff up, trying to do something... I was vague on that point... and he found humans in a lab. Anyway, those with keen eyes noticed that one of said humans on the slab was Marcus Wright. When the lab blew up, he woke up and escaped and managed to find Kyle Reese (John Connor's father) in the LA arm of the resistance.

Meanwhile, John Connor has been advised that he and Kyle Reese (only John knows why this unknown civilian teenager is on the list) are numbers 2 and 1 on Skynet's hit list. So you know that John Connor and his crew are going to have to cross paths with Marcus and Kyle. Don't want to go into details that will spoil the plot, but it was cool with dad and son (who's probably twice dad's age) meet for the first time!! And a lot of things blow up, and a lot of machines try to kill John and Kyle, and once again I'm reminded why I totally disregard movie reviewers (ironic, since I'm writing one, eh?) because I thought it was great! Odds are I'll see it again, maybe even this weekend! And of course, I'll get the DVD. Two thumbs up! Well, at least one and 1/2 thumbs up! :)

Next up: Well, I'll have to look. I'm not sure what's coming out between now and Harry Potter 6.

Review – Angels and Demons

(Disclaimer: If you haven’t seen this movie, there may be information in this review that might be considered a “spoiler” - although I consciously try not to put major spoiler info in my reviews. Proceed with caution.)

I read the DaVinci Code back when it was all the rage and enjoyed it thoroughly. I then proceeded to read its prequel, Angels and Demons. Looking back about 4+ years, I don’t remember much about the book, but I do remember that at the time I enjoyed it more than the DaVinci Code. Of course, then they made a movie out of DaVinci. I reread it before going to see the movie partly so I could tell what changes they’d made to the story. The movie was good, but I didn’t care for the changes they made to the story, for whatever reason.

Although I thought about rereading the book before going to see Angels and Demons, I did not. That may have had more to do with my being too busy to get to the library, though, than having been a conscious decision. I do know of one major change – that this movie is a sequel to the other movie, whereas the book was a prequel – but I don’t think that’ll be that big of a hairy deal to me. There is one minor problem with not having reread the book, though, and that is that I didn’t know if Ewan McGregor’s character was a good guy or not and since he's the cutie of the movie, I really like to know these things going in.

Basically, the plot is this: the Pope has died and the Vatican is going through the steps to name a new Pope. Actually, I read this book before the last Pope died, and found it very interesting to watch on the news what the steps were to get a new one. So the book was very educational in that aspect. Anywho, a secret society of scientists have kidnapped the top four contenders for the popeship and has threatened to kill one an hour until midnight at which time a bombs gonna blow up the entire city. Next thing, to the rescue comes Robert Langdon, symbologist! (dunh, dun, duh!!) I know, even he was amazed!

What follows is a whirlwind, 24-like scouring of Vatican City to find certain places and get there before the bad guys kill and leave the body of one of the four pope contenders. Only instead of Jack Bauer, you have Tom Hanks. (I know, I know, no one competes with Jack Bauer, but Jack would've had to torture a few of those priests to get the info, and I suppose that would've cheesed off the Church, eh?)

The newspaper thought the plot had a lot of convenient co-inky-dinks in it, but you know, I really don't try to analyze movies like that. I just thought it was a good movie. Even though the plot came back to my mid-movie, it was still gripping. So my view of this movie was that it was very entertaining. Well worth the money! Just don't drink a big ol' thing of iced tea before the movie because about 3/4's of the way through the movie, you'll really need to go, but not be able to!! :)

Next week: Terminator - Salvation. Whoo! I get chills just thinking about it! or am I just thinking about Christian Bale?

Review - Star Trek

(Disclaimer: If you haven’t seen this movie, there may be information in this review that might be considered a “spoiler” - although I consciously try not to put major spoiler info in my reviews. Proceed with caution.)

I went to go see the new Star Trek movie yesterday. I’m not a hardcore Trekkie, but I’ve seen more than my fair share of the TV shows and all of the movies, with the possible exception of the last one. I don’t recall seeing it. Actually, I Tivo’ed it and tried to start it, but got bored about 15 minutes into it and gave up. I guess my point is that I went just hoping for an enjoyable Trek with old friends and I wasn’t disappointed.

I’m not 100% sure how I like the idea of the bad guy from the future going back in time and changing everyone’s past, but on the other hand, assuming this movie’s a hit and there will be more of them, we get to build a new relationship with the characters based on a new set of adventures. As it was, I didn’t remember enough of the characters’ past to know much of the difference.

Having said all that, I’m also not 100% sold on Chris Pine as the new Kirk. I suppose that I will grow to like him. But I ADORE Zachary Quinto as Spock – I think he was definitely born to be a Vulcan - however I read that in order to do the Vulcan hand thing, he had to have his fingers glued together. I find that odd. The little boy who played Spock as a child was just adorable with his little bowl hair cut and eyebrows. I enjoyed the new McCoy, Sulu and Chekov. And Scotty! (ah, well, as we all know, if it’s not Scottish it’s CRAP!) And I sort of assumed that Uhura and Kirk would be the “couple” of the show. Boy! Was I surprised to discover that Uhura and Spock had a thing going on. The face on Kirk as Uhura was smooching Spock goodbye before they beamed off to possible death, was priceless.

I enjoyed all the little things: McCoy’s “I’m a doctor, not a …” comments, Chekov’s accent being so thick the computer couldn’t ID his voice, the mention of Captain Archer and his dog, seeing Captain Pike in his wheelchair at the end (because those episodes with Captain Pike are in my top five favorite episodes of the original series… along with the Tribbles and that episode where they time travelled back to the 1940’s and met Joan Collins).

So my official opinion is that this movie is pretty stinkin’ good! Next up – Angels and Demons. But until then, live long and prosper.

Just Weighing In

Just to let you all know, I weighed in tonight. And despite the potato salad and German chocolate cake from the weekend, I lost 1.6 pounds!! For a total 8.8 pounds. Yeah me!! :)

Weighing In on the Weekend

Last week was rough. Steve (Boss #1) was trying to get a lot of stuff done before leaving on vacation. We had a summary judgment motion/brief to get out, and a big mediation to get ready for. In fact, I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but when I realized that he was going to be gone for not one, but TWO weeks, I got my second wind! Whoo hoo! Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of stuff to do in his absence, and Carrie (Boss #2) is still there, but still it should be less stressful... as long as I remember to Tivo 24 and Lost for him while he's gone!

Anyway, then along came the weekend - Mother's Day weekend! The Sibs and Niece #1 came down to visit. Dad had a rough week and the weekend started rough too. But by noon on Saturday, he was feeling better. I mowed the lawn, bopping around on the riding mower with my ipod. Ho weed-whacked, and Ha attacked a couple of big bushes with the choppers. By the end of the afternoon, the place looked picture perfect.

The diet wasn't exactly followed, not with a big ol'bowl of potato salad, a Cajun pork roast straight off the rotissere, and a German chocolate cake for dinner! It was Goo-oo-ood, even if I ended up using all my extra points for the week and more! We wanted to take mom out to dinner for Mother's Day, but were concerned about leaving Dad alone, so Haley suggested that we get a bucket of chicken (those of you who've read about my feelings regarding KFC won't be surprised that I firmly suggested Grandy's) and fixin's and have a picnic on the front porch. We wheeled Dad out in his chair, brought the living room table outside, and set out quite a feast. Even Merle graced us with his presence. Haley snuck him a wee bit of chicken now and then and everyone was happy.

A happy weekend was had by all the mothers in our little group. Mom with her three girls. Ho NOT having to deal with her two kids. Ha with her oldest alone at home, the youngest in Honduras with Ed, and the middle one with us. Me and my two adorable kitties napping with me after everyone went home. Hopefully it was a Happy Mother's Day for all!

KFC - Chicken Done Right

My mother has always said that if we go to a restaurant and someone’s going to get either 1) crappy service or B) the wrong food, that it would be my father. And experience has proven her to be right for the most part. Well, now it would appear that I’ve inherited his luck, at least as far as KFC is concerned.

Recently, KFC started advertising their new grilled chicken – in fact, there was even a day when anyone could go to KFC and get a free piece of grilled chicken just to try it. I wasn’t able to take advantage of that deal because I think I had a doctor’s appointment over my lunch hour that day, but the whole grilled chicken intrigued me, especially since A) I’d recently joined Weight Watchers, 2) I love chicken, and thirdly, because grilled be better for me than fried. So, I convinced my main fiend, Jennifer, to go there for lunch.

We got there about 12:15, we went early (for us) because we were starving. As we walked into the restaurant, there were about 7 people in line in front of us. We overheard the person at the counter telling the first person up there that they only had dark meat in the grilled chicken at the moment. Now, maybe I was wrong to assume things, but again, it was 12:15 PM – lunch time – and I assumed that: first) they had white meat already down and cooking or II) they were in the process of putting some white meat down to cook.

By the time when I got up to the line, and the woman told me, in response to my inquiry about white meat, that they didn’t have any, I began to wonder… I’d assumed they just didn’t have any cooked. Maybe they had run out totally. So I asked, to clarify, if they were going to have some soon, because if it were cooking, I could wait. She told me that it takes about 20 minutes to cook. I said, um, but might it already be IN the process of cooking? Like if they put it down 10 minutes earlier, then waiting 10 minutes wouldn’t be that bad. So she gave me a look and went to go check. She came back and said that it wasn’t down yet. So I asked if they had dark meat, with another look she went to go check and said they did. I ordered the dark meat (not my preference, but still, I’m ok), green beans (the lowest side point-wise) and mashed potatoes without gravy (I don’t like gravy, in general, this isn’t a diet-related choice).

I’m guessing that you’re thinking my ordeal is now over, but no, she asked if I wanted a drink. Now, see, there was this sign right behind her that said 2 piece grilled chicken meal, with two sides and a drink, for $4.99. So, I said yes I would like the drink that comes WITH the deal! The lovely woman looks at me point blank and says, “no, it doesn’t come with the meal.” I graciously pointed out the sign BEHIND HER! She said that isn’t going on anymore. I’m thinking “Anymore? KFC’s only been selling this grilled chicken for a week! Oy!” By now I’m really losing my thrill over lunch in general – which is saying a lot! I told her that I didn’t care, just give me the freakin’ drink!! Of course, when I got my receipt, the 2 piece meal was $3.99 and the drink was $1.00 so essentially, it was the meal and the drink for $4.99 just like the SIGN BEHIND HER said!

Well, then I was happy to see that she was the person who prepared my food. Yeah. I get to the table with my drink, napkin, spork, etc. I opened the box to discover that the leg looked like it came off of a baby chick rather than an adult chicken and both it and the thigh looked like they’d been sitting under the heat lamp since the free chicken day. As for my green beans, well, they were cole slaw, and the mashed potatoes were swimming in gravy. I almost cried. Jennifer was all, “go up and complain!” But I just wanted to get out of there. My meal, which I had carefully calculated to be a certain amount of points, was now almost double the points and my lunch had been ruined. I'm sure you'll understand why I might not be going back to KFC any time soon. Sigh.

Of Swine Flu, Housework, and Rose

It is a crisp 63 degrees as I write this on Sunday afternoon. The bunnies are playing in the backyard, and the next door neighbor is mowing his lawn, so I don't have to compete with the cats to look out my windows. Although what with all the smudgy nose and paw prints on the windows, I might as well. I guess Windexing this window is on my list of to-dos for the day.

Yesterday I did laundry and cleared my bedroom of a herd of dust buffalo from under the bed. Sophie and Gizmo enjoy it when I clean because I uncover a world of toys that they've lost from under the dressers, the bed, etc. So this morning I awoke to the glorious sound of Giz playing with a plastic milk ring on the hardwood floor right at my bed. The whole apartment is hardwood floor and, therefore, tons-o-fun to play milk rings on, but no, he has to play right at my head. Didn't bother me at all when I heard the lawn mower start and he made a run for sanctuary behind the fridge. haha!

I'm not feeling at that great at the moment. I had a sore throat and slight fever yesterday evening. I woke up this am and decided against going to church. It was a guest speaker anyway, so I chose to do my napping in bed. I woke up again, post nap, about half-way through a History Channel show on the kidnapping of Lincoln's body, feeling somewhat better. So I forced myself out of bed to go see what I could do about the other half of the house. I don't think I have the swine flu, despite the title of the blog, I just have the chilly-weather sinus-y gakky throat.

This coming weekend is Mother's Day, and the Sibs are coming down and one of them and her daughter will be staying with me. So at a minimum, I'll go in and brush the carpet to get up some cat hair. Oh! That reminds me, there was this priceless pic on the cheeseburger site and I think I could easly reinact it after brushing the carpet. The cat even looks a little like Sophie.

Oh! Heavens! Somebody make a note of the day and time! Gizmo just came out from behind the fridge to join us in the bedroom! Personally, I think he falls asleep back there, because the lawn mowing neighbor has been done for at least an hour.. he doesn't have THAT big of a lawn! And the silly boy waited long enough before emerging that the frolicing bunnies are gone.

The diet's gone pretty good this week. I haven't gone out and walked any, but likewise, I've done well. Well, except for Friday - over my lunch hour, I went to Joann's to get a gnome as a graduation present for Niece #3 who is graduating high school this year. And I took my dining out book so I could get something to eat. I decided on nuggets and iced tea from McD's. A 10 piece nuggets is 10 points and iced tea is free, as long as it's unsweet. So the first temptation came when, after explicitly ording UNsweet tea, the girl put sweet tea on the monitor. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE SWEET TEA, expecially McD's sweet tea!! But I'm proud to say that I was able to overcome that temptation and told her kindly that it was supposed to be UNsweet tea. So far so good. I pay, I get my food, and I drive off thinking "I wonder if they'd have put in a fry or two if I asked them to." As I'm back on the road, I start thinking, man those nuggets smell like fries - I figure they're all cooked in the same oil. I stick my hand in and I'll be damned if there wasn't a package of fries in there. This would be your classic blessing/curse situation. I decided that I'd just eat 2 fries and pitch the rest. Needless to say, before I got back to the office, the nuggets AND the fries were history! However, with a nice big ol'healthy (mostly point-free) salad for dinner, I did not go over in my points for the day.

Which was good because yesterday was my fiend Becky's bridal shower, being thrown at a Chinese restaurant. And let me just say that there was nothing on the (already set) menu that was low in points. I ended up eating most of my points for the day AND my blow away points for the week. But the shower was nice and the food was delicious, and she got a lot of nice loot!

Well, my handsome boy wants to lounge on the desktop here, so I guess I'll close and let him have the desk. Although I've already told him he missed the bunnies. I need to go brush the carpet anyway (and make my test cat!)